Delicate and delicious asparagus has only recently become an off-season vegetable. Prior to this, over the centuries, its shoots have been associated with the advent of spring. Sweet, juicy, aromatic asparagus was a long-awaited product, a delight of gourmets who devised hundreds of recipes for it. In a modern diet, asparagus is not only an exquisite delicacy, but also part of a healthy diet: it has few calories, no fats, a lot of potassium, sodium and B vitamins.
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Asparagus comes in three primary colors. The French, as a rule, grow purple asparagus, the British and Americans prefer green asparagus, the Spaniards and the Dutch most often sprinkle the shoot with earth, which is why the asparagus, without seeing the sunlight, remains pale, white. Any asparagus has a pleasant piquant taste, the intensity of which varies, corresponding to the brightness of the color. A very young, thin asparagus - usually referred to as sprue - does not need any pre-treatment. Older plants are somewhat "stiff." Each “spear” (the so-called asparagus shoots) should be bent until it begins to break, and then cut off the hard bottom in the place where it cracked.
Although some gourmets can use raw asparagus, preferring white shoots to everyone else, if the vegetable is cooked, its sweet, even slightly sugary aroma will manifest with all its intensity. Even just boiled asparagus, sprinkled with good olive oil and seasoned with a pinch of salt, turns into a delicacy. A classic of fine dining is slightly fried asparagus with velvety Dutch sauce.
To prepare this dish you will need 16 asparagus shoots, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 150 grams of melted butter, 2 teaspoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice and white wine vinegar, 2 large egg yolks from chicken eggs, salt and freshly ground black pepper.
An ideal dish for making asparagus is a special tall and narrow pan with a submersible mesh basket. Plants are immersed upside down in it so that the stiffer stems are in salted boiling water, and the tender buds are steamed. If the house does not have useful, but expensive equipment, it is quite possible to get along with an ordinary wide and shallow pan. Pour water into it, salt and bring to a boil. Immerse whole asparagus and cook for 1-2 minutes. Then drain the water and sprinkle the “spears” with olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Shake the pan so that all the shoots are covered with vegetable oil and spices, transfer them to a preheated wide pan. Cook another 2-4 minutes, depending on the thickness of the shoots. Pour 25 grams of melted butter and shake again.
To prepare Dutch sauce, you should heat lemon juice and vinegar in a saucepan of non-reactive materials, not boiling. In a bowl of a food processor, beat the yolks slightly, reduce the speed to a slow and fine stream, pour in a heated mixture of juice and vinegar. When the mass in the bowl becomes homogeneous, start adding the remaining melted butter, continuing to whisk at slow speeds. The sauce should be thick, smooth and glossy. Season it with salt and pepper.
Try to make the sauce at the same time as the asparagus. If you doubt that you will be able to keep track of both components of the dish, start with a Dutch sauce. Having prepared it, do not forget to cover the gravy boat with cling film so that the gravy does not wind and its surface does not go “wrinkled”.
Asparagus with Dutch sauce is often combined with poached eggs. They are put on ready-made shoots. And then they pour it all together with an oily sauce and immediately serve it.
In addition to Dutch, many other sauces are suitable for asparagus, such as garlic aioli, mayonnaise with lemon juice, fusion cuisine lovers serve a plant with a mixture of soy sauce and sesame oil.
The asparagus cooked with bacon or ham will be elegant and delicious. It is best to use sliced pancetta or prosciutto, which will need exactly as much as you have asparagus shoots. Preheat the oven to 180 ° C, wrap each “spear” with a slice of bacon or ham, leaving the bud uncovered, and bake on a baking sheet covered with baking paper for 7-10 minutes. These shoots can be served for dinner as a separate dish or for lunch, garnished with fish or meat.
No less sophisticated and simple will be the asparagus soup puree. To prepare it, you will need about 400 grams of a delicious vegetable, 500 ml of vegetable or chicken broth, 1 head of onion, 2 tablespoons of melted butter or olive oil and 4 tablespoons of cream, not less than 20% fat.
This dish is also good because it can be suitable for finely chopped asparagus stalks, whose buds have already been used in some other effective recipe. The shoots of the plant must be finely chopped, chop the onion into thin half rings. In a deep saucepan on hot oil, fry the onions until transparent, then add the pieces of asparagus and cook for another 2 minutes. Pour in hot broth, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 5-7 minutes. Season with salt and white pepper, mash the soup with a blender and warm it slightly, adding and stirring cream.